saturate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to cause (a substance) to unite with the greatest possible amount of another substance, through solution, chemical combination, or the like.
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to charge to the utmost, as with magnetism.
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to soak, impregnate, or imbue thoroughly or completely.
to saturate a sponge with water; a town saturated with charm.
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to destroy (a target) completely with bombs and missiles.
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to send so many planes over (a target area) that the defensive electronic tracking equipment becomes ineffective.
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to furnish (a market) with goods to its full purchasing capacity.
verb (used without object)
adjective
noun
verb
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to fill, soak, or imbue totally
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to make (a chemical compound, vapour, solution, magnetic material, etc) saturated or (of a compound, vapour, etc) to become saturated
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(tr) military to bomb or shell heavily
adjective
Related Words
See wet.
Other Word Forms
- desaturate verb (used with object)
- oversaturate verb (used with object)
- saturater noun
Etymology
Origin of saturate
First recorded in 1530–40; from Latin saturātus (past participle of saturāre “to fill”), equivalent to satur- “full, well-fed” ( sad ) + -ātus -ate 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Persistent downpours have left the ground saturated in many areas and rivers bursting their banks.
From BBC
However, some observational studies found that people taking the drugs often consumed high levels of total and saturated fat.
From Science Daily
The ground remains saturated and more than sixty flood warnings are in force even before this next batch of wet weather arrives, so further flooding is expected.
From BBC
There are five flood warnings in Devon and two in Cornwall and the Environment Agency said, with the ground already saturated, river levels were expected to stay high for some time.
From BBC
Germany is the European Union's potato-producing capital, and last year's harvest has left the market saturated.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
